1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the fields of shopping and advertising, and in particular, to an interactive shopping system which can provide shoppers with useful product information for assisting the shopper at the time and place of article selection, and which can also provide promotions and discounts from a marketing and advertising campaign targeted for influencing the shoppers"" choices at the time and place of article selection.
2. Description of Related Art
When a shopper is shopping, usually but not always in the aisles of a store, there is presently no effective way to answer the shopper""s request for product information of particular interest to that shopper. The moment at which a shopper is most likely to recognize a need for product information is during the shopping experience. More specifically, the moment occurs when the shopper is at the point-of-purchase, for example standing in an aisle at a particular retail establishment and physically looking at an article of merchandise, and deciding whether or not to purchase the article under scrutiny. As a practical matter, that ultimate shopping question is presently a rhetorical question. No person or mechanism is available to supply article specific information which can assist the shopper in deciding whether or not to purchase the article. From a marketing viewpoint, there is no opportunity to influence the shopper""s decision at the moment the decision is being made.
Product information available in stores is typically printed somewhere on the product package, often in small hard-to-read print. On-package information has the drawback of being general in nature and not specific to the shopper""s need for information. Product information can, to some degree, appear on shelf signs. This kind of information device suffers from being limited in the information it can provide and in not providing the specific information the shopper may require. Compounding the problem of lack of information is the difficulty and the amount of time required to marshal information from several sources, for example packages and shelf signs, to make product comparisons. In a grocery store, for example, comparisons of price, ingredients and recipe preparation time can be required.
Thus, the shopper in need of information is forced to go on a time-consuming hunt, checking labels, reading fine print, trying to remember price or other information and often not finding the desired information or being unable to make an important product comparison.
Providing specific information requested by shoppers as they walk through a store or stand at the point-of-purchase, is a problem for manufacturers. Manufacturers would like to take advantage of a request for information to offer the shopper not only product information, but product benefits that specifically relate to the needs of a particular shopper and can induce the shopper to select one product over another product. In addition, manufacturers would like to use a shopper request for information as an opportunity to provide product promotion information, such as a discount, that will motivate a purchase of the product. The manufacturer may want to access the purchase history of the shopper in order to determine the value of the discount, which is also a problem. In addition, manufacturers would like to draw from data bases of shopper specific information to intelligently address the needs of specific shoppers for a wider range of information that can be delivered at the point-of-purchase, such as requested meal planning advice. Current art for providing this requested information at the point of purchase does not exist.
Manufacturers recognize that providing information at the point-of-purchase is important for the opportunity afforded the manufacturer to impact on or alter shopper purchasing behavior. The most widely used in-aisle information device is the red Smart Source xe2x80x9cTake ONExe2x80x9d information dispenser from News America Marketing (formerly ActMedia), which is now attached to shelves in thousands of retail stores. This mechanical dispenser is used to distribute recipes, product use information and shopper promotions printed on small pieces of paper pulled from the machine by interested shoppers. This method for providing product information is limited as a result of the restrictions in the number of dispensers that can be placed in each store. This method is also limited in the amount and type of information that can be provided to the shopper. Most importantly, this method cannot respond to specific requests for information nor can it tailor information based on shopper""s expressed preferences or purchase history.
Accordingly, there is long-felt need to provide shoppers with the kind of supplemental information required to make intelligent shopping decisions at the times such decisions are being made. Moreover, there is a long-felt need for manufacturers to influence shopping decisions at the time the decisions are being made. Historically, these needs have been perceived by those skilled in the related arts to be contradictory at best, and this perception may be the reason that the needs have not heretofore been reconciled in any practical fashion.
Interactive shopping systems in accordance with the inventive arrangements provide shoppers with the kind of supplemental information required to make intelligent shopping decisions at the times such decisions are being made and enable manufacturers to influence shopping decisions, for example with price and/or product advisories, at the time the decisions are being made. Shoppers can benefit from the supplemental information even though manufacturers are benefitting from the opportunity to influence the purchasing decisions. Manufacturers can benefit from the cost efficiencies of targeting shoppers and influencing purchasing decisions at the time of purchase, even if the supplemental information sometimes induces shoppers to select another article. Greater efficiency in advertising can result in lower prices and more competition. Shoppers and manufacturers can both benefit, thus for the first time reconciling the long-felt and contradictory needs of the prior art.
In accordance with the inventive arrangements, shoppers can carry an interactive apparatus throughout a shopping venue for communicating with an interactive and intelligent source of supplemental information not otherwise available to the shopper in the shopping venue.
An interactive system adapted for use in a shopping venue, in accordance with the inventive arrangements, comprises: an interactive source of supplemental information, related to articles available for selection by shoppers in a shopping venue, and not otherwise available to the shoppers during shopping; and, a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus which shoppers can move throughout the shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to the interactive source of supplemental information and use for receiving information transmitted from the interactive source of supplemental information, whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating the articles when making article selection decisions, and at least some of the received information can be formulated to influence the article selection decisions.
At least some of the supplemental information transmitted to the shoppers can be responsive to the queries.
The shopping system can further comprise: a speech interface operatively associated with each the apparatus; and, a speech application enabling the queries to be spoken and enabling the transmitted supplemental information to be audibly perceived.
The system can further comprise means for communicating with a point of sale system (POS) associated with the shopping venue. The information supplied to the shopper can include at least some information from the POS system.
The system can further comprise: a base station for housing the interactive source; respective transceivers disposed in the apparatus and the base station for communicating data to one another; and, respective processors for controlling the apparatus and the base station.
At least some of the information in the at least one supplemental data base can be related to personal shopping preferences transmitted to the base station by operation of each apparatus.
The system can comprise at least one of: a speech user interface for receiving spoken queries and commands and supplying audible responses; and, a graphical user interface having a display screen and a tactilely activatable input. The speech user interface can comprise at least one of: a microphone and a speaker built into the apparatus; and, a headset having a microphone and a speaker. The tactilely activatable input can comprise at least one of: a touch display screen; and, an array of buttons.
The system can further comprise an artificial intelligence unit for evaluating the queries and selecting information for inclusion in responses to the queries.
The system can further comprise a speech application. The speech application can comprise a speech recognition engine and a text-to-speech engine.
The apparatus can further comprise a bar code scanner. The apparatus can be adapted for selectively mounting on a shopping cart and for being carried by the shopper.
The system can further comprise a plurality of the mobile interactive apparatus adapted for storage in a rack, the apparatus being adapted for the mobile use upon selective removal from the rack.
The system can further comprise a rack for storing a plurality of the mobile interactive apparatus, each apparatus being adapted for the mobile use upon selective removal from the rack.
The at least one supplemental data base can include video data; and, the at least one user interface can comprise a screen for displaying the video data. The shopping venue can be associated with video cassettes; and, the video data can include trailers for movies. The shopping venue can be associated with building supplies; and, the video data can include building projects. The shopping venue can be associated with groceries; and, the video data can include prepared foods. The shopping venue can be associated with automobiles; and, the video data can include automobiles. The shopping venue can be associated with a merchandiser; and, the video data can include merchandise.
The artificial intelligence unit can generate, for example, one or more of the following: a shopping list responsive to an audible customer query; warnings when values of data in the information supplied to the shopper for shopper-selected articles is out of a predetermined range; price and/or price advisories based on shopper-selected articles; and, a tutorial running concurrently and intermittently with selection of the articles. Parts of the tutorial can be initiated by scanning the articles.
The system can further comprise a help desk station accessible by use of the mobile apparatus in the shopping venue.
The system can further comprise one or more of: first means enabling communication between the interactive source and the rack; second means enabling communication between the interactive source and a point of sale system (POS) associated with the shopping venue; and, third means enabling communication between the interactive source and a source of the received information formulated to influence the article selection decisions.
The artificial intelligence unit can also generate at least one of price and product advisories based on proximity to an article.
Another interactive shopping system, in accordance with the inventive arrangements, comprises: an interactive and intelligent source of information related to articles available for selection by shoppers in a shopping venue; and, a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus which shoppers can move throughout the shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to the interactive and intelligent source of information and use for receiving information transmitted from the interactive and intelligent source of information, whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating the articles when making article selection decisions, and at least some of the received information can be formulated to influence the article selection decisions.
The interactive and intelligent source of information can comprise an artificial intelligence unit, for example a neural network, for evaluating the queries and selecting information for inclusion in responses to the queries.
The system can comprise at least one of: a speech user interface for receiving spoken queries and commands and supplying audible responses; and, a graphical user interface having a display screen and a tactilely activatable input.
The shopping system can further comprise: a speech interface operatively associated with each the apparatus; and, a speech application enabling the queries to be spoken and enabling the transmitted supplemental information to be audibly perceived.
The system can further comprise: a rack for storing a plurality of the mobile interactive apparatus, each the apparatus being adapted for the mobile use upon selective removal from the rack.
The system can further comprise at least one user interface. The information can include video data and the at least one user interface can comprise a screen for displaying the video data.